Emily Louise Glanvill was born on the 9/07/93. Emily was born 15 weeks premature by C Section.When I look back now the whole time seems a blur, and I wonder how we coped with everything that went on. Emily weighed in at only 750grams, and was given, at first a 20 percent chance of survival, but as the hours passed her chances improved, we were told that if she
got through the first 72 hours without having a brain heamorrage her chances would be very good.  Emily had H.M.D. and B.P.D. due to the immiturity of her lungs, and was ventalated for two months.  Well Emily was 70 hours old and she had a grade four bleed into her right ventricle.  the only way they could tell was that she was fitting so much, that they had to give her phenobarbe to sedate her for approximatley five days.
    The doctors then told us that Emily had Cerebral Palsy, but that she would walk with a limp, her speech would be slurred, and she would'nt use her left hand very much. THEY WERE SO WRONG.
       Emily came home on oxygen, and was on oxygen for 10 months at home. When she did come home, she was 3.5 months old, but  corrected age she was 3 days old. Things went well for a couple of months at home, with emily being enrolled into an early intervention program straight away, we were told it was better to get started on her therapy, so that the differences could be made as early as possible.
       Emily was 3 months old when she started to do something funny. I didnt know what it was, but we got really worried about it.  So we took her to the
childrens Hospital to have it checked out.  We got told that we were overreacting and that there was nothing wrong with her, we were just looking for things to go wrong. Well we weren't happy with that answer, so we went to another Hospital, and after what seemed, hundreds of tests, we were told that Emily had severe Epilepsy.  Could anything else go wrong? the answer was YES. A Few months later emily had to go to the Hospital for a routine eye test, and the last bombshell was dropped on us. Emily had a severe Cortical Visual Impairement, and was basically blind, or would never be able to use her sight enough to help her.
    Emily is now 4.5 years old, she does not walk with a limp, because she will never walk at all,. She does not talk with a slur, because she will never talk, you see she was diagnosed with a severe form of Dyspraxia. She is right handed and will not use her left hand very much.  She is totally dependent on us for her survival, because the only thing that Emily can do for herself is give herself a bottle to drink.  Emily's C.P. is one of the worst that I have seen, she is very low tone in  some areas but high tone in others. The only thing that has not been assesed yet, is Emily's intellect, and I am not looking forward to that day, because I know the responses that we will get..
    Emily started pre-school this year, and I hope that it will be of benefit to her. Emily is a very cheeky, fun loving little girl. She is beautiful and we love her very much, but we are also afraid of what the future will bring for her.
Emily's epilipsy is fairly under control, she is on two types of medication, and has seizures every few weeks.
    This is Emily's story ,so far. I will keep you updated on what happens with Em throughout the year, because I'm sure this year will be as busy as last.
I haven't written every single thing that has happened over the last 4  years, because There is so much. Our lives revolve around hospital visits, specialists, and therapists, just like many parents of kids with C.P.
    Emily has two siblings, my son who is 12.5 and my other daughter who is 13 months, the baby has just started walking, and loves to push Em around in her wheelchair.
Emily's story by Kayleen, Emily's mom.
   If you would like to learn more about Emily you can e-mail her family at
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